Total pages in book: 60
Estimated words: 58808 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 294(@200wpm)___ 235(@250wpm)___ 196(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 58808 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 294(@200wpm)___ 235(@250wpm)___ 196(@300wpm)
Stop!
Drop!
Run!
I scream in my head.
Those eyes that have haunted me all these years are now locked on me.
“Avani,” he says calmly.
Charlotte spins to look behind her at the man who basically ruined my life, and Grayson is still by her side.
“What’s going on? How do you know my daddy?” Charlotte asks.
Something in me dies at hearing that man is a father. How can someone so evil be a father, much less the father of a girl? And how is she standing there like her life is normal? When he treated me like I was utter shit on his shoe and his property.
“You have a daughter?” I blurt out.
He goes to take a step in my direction, but the men I walked in with block his path to me.
“I see you brought backup.” The sound of his voice grates on every nerve inside me. My body starts shaking, and I must remember I am in charge here. No, actually, I’m not. I look up and find Grayson, who is still standing next to Charlotte. He hasn’t moved a muscle.
He will protect me, won’t he?
“Why are you looking at him?” Charlotte barks then grips Grayson tightly to her.
“Have you been under my eye this whole time, Avani?” I look away from her and back to him.
Marcus.
Evil fucking Marcus.
“Of course. You think you could find me that easily again?” I taunt him. “You always had an ego so fucking large you never saw your own mistakes.”
“And you always had a mouth on you,” Marcus retorts.
“Yes, yes, I do.” I smile. “And not even your raggedy old ass could change that.” Marcus lunges toward me. This asshole always hated my mouth, and I never stopped using it because he despised it.
“I’d stop if I were you.” We all turn at the sound of Grayson’s voice. And when we do, Marcus sucks in a breath at what he sees. Grayson is holding a knife to Charlotte’s throat, pressing it in, so it almost cuts her porcelain skin.
“What are you doing, Grayson?” Marcus asks him, his hands up in surrender as he looks at his daughter.
“Does she have any scars on her body?” I ask Marcus.
His eyes quickly flash to me.
“Does she? Or didn’t she deserve the same treatment I got?” I tilt my head. “We are around the same age if I am not mistaken.”
“You are,” Grayson says, nodding and then addressing Marcus. “Tell your security to leave, or I’ll slice her throat right now.”
“You wouldn’t. You love her,” Marcus replies. He waits, and everything goes quiet before his gaze moves to me, then back to Grayson. “Oh, it’s not Charlotte you love.”
“No, it’s not,” Grayson answers truthfully, and Charlotte’s brow furrows in response.
“She does have a great pussy, I’ll give you that,” Marcus taunts with an evil grin.
Grayson’s eyes flash and he cuts Charlotte’s throat a little, making her whimper and cry.
“Stop!” Marcus shouts.
“Is the security called off?” Grayson asks him. When he doesn’t answer, Grayson smirks and pushes in a little harder. She is, for sure, going to have a scar.
“This is why you wouldn’t have sex with her, isn’t it? Because you didn’t want her.” My head spins at that information from Marcus as I stare at Grayson.
“Security, now.”
Marcus slowly reaches into his pocket and pulls out a small radio. We listen as he tells his security team to go home. Now it’s just me, Grayson, Marcus, the three men I came in with, and Charlotte, whose eyes haven’t stopped welling with tears.
“Now, drop the knife,” Marcus says.
Grayson’s eyes find mine. “Do you want me to drop the knife?” he asks.
I nod, and he lowers the knife but holds Charlotte to him, not letting her run off. I step in front of her, the men who walked in with me let me go. I reach out and touch her face.
“Why didn’t you hurt her?” I ask in a small voice.
“She is my daughter,” Marcus answers simply.
“I was someone’s daughter once,” I tell him. “You hated scars, yet you gave them to me anyway,” I muse as Charlotte cries harder. “How did it feel fucking someone the same age as your daughter?”
“Don’t act like it was a punishment for you. On the contrary, I gave you a better life than the one you had before,” he spits, pushing my nerves to the very edge.
I reach for Grayson’s hand and take the knife from him. He looks at me, puzzled before I focus on Charlotte.
“This has nothing to do with you and everything to do with your father. We are a product of our parents, after all, and as your father used to tell me, I had to pay for their sins.”
“I—” Marcus starts but stops himself.
That was the excuse I used to get when he would speak to me. ‘Your parents gave you up, so you have to pay. No one wants you, so you should be thankful for me.’